


See you on Halloween

by Wolftraps (AlwaysBoth)



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Angst, Future Fic, Kid Fic, M/M, but there's a kid talked about, ghost fic, kind of not really
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-22
Updated: 2013-10-22
Packaged: 2017-12-30 04:21:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 831
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1014025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlwaysBoth/pseuds/Wolftraps
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They meet every year, on this one day.</p>
            </blockquote>





	See you on Halloween

The sky is dark and the air is chilled when Derek gets into the preserve. It's almost two hours past when he usually arrives, and he worries the whole way there that he's late. But no. When the cliff edge comes into view, there's a young man sitting there, fiddling with something as he waits. Waits for Derek.   
  
"Stiles."   
  
The young man's head snaps up, and he greets Derek with a familiar grin. He scrambles up, all waving limbs, and as he draws closer, features getting clearer, it's strange to Derek that they go so long without seeing each other, but Stiles always looks just the same. He knows _he's_ changed.   
  
"Hey there, big guy," Stiles says, still smiling. "I was starting to think you weren't going to show." He's joking, but there's a sort of wariness in his voice that belies the truth.   
  
"Sorry. This year I had to…" Derek trails off awkwardly and shrugs, staring just to the side of Stiles' head to avoid eye contact. It doesn't make a difference, though. Stiles can still read him too well.   
  
"Did the big bad wolf go _trick-or-treating?_ " he crows gleefully. "Oh man, what I'd give to see that. Did she make you dress up? Were you a werewolf? Tell me you were a werewolf for Halloween."   
  
Derek rolls his eyes and refuses to answer, studying Stiles' face instead, drinking in the pale skin, the familiar constellations of moles, the warm eyes. The smile falls away as Derek cups Stiles' cheek, strokes the chilled skin, then catches his lips in a soft kiss that feels like home.   
  
Stiles pulls back first and sighs. "Derek… How old is she now?"   
  
"... Five." Derek frowns aggressively. He knows where this is going, and he doesn't like it.   
  
"Five. God, it's been so long. I bet she's getting big. But… it's been seven years, Derek."   
  
"No."   
  
"Derek-"   
  
"No."   
  
"Will you-"   
  
"Shut up, Stiles."   
  
"Just-"   
  
"No."   
  
" _Knock it off_." Derek takes the twitch in Stiles' eye as a victory, though it's really not. There's no such thing as a victory here. No one wins. "Oh my _god_ , how are you still so aggravating?"   
  
" _Me?_ "   
  
"Yes! I'm not the one who won't move on, Derek."   
  
"Aren't you?" Stiles takes a step back, looking at Derek like he'd been slapped. "It's been seven years, but I'm not the only one who's here, Stiles. You still show up. Every year… Why?"   
  
Their silent stalemate lasts a few long moments before Stiles hands go wandering, searching for an answer that won't just make a bad situation more painful, but there isn't one. Eventually he gives up, staring at the ground, his hands, the moon, anywhere but Derek's face.   
  
"I just want you to be happy," he says finally, soft as the wind running through the woods. "And I can't… I'm not coming back, Derek. I've tried. Over and over. But I _can't_. And I just… I need you to be okay." Derek doesn't hold as tight as he'd like when he draws Stiles into a hug, because there's always that fear, that he might just disappear, evaporate into the air. But he's here, despite those worries, today he's here.   
  
"I'll be better when you stop telling Scott to try setting me up with people." Stiles huffs a laugh into Derek's shoulder, which is good. Stiles should always laugh. "And when you accept that Claudia is the closest I'm ever going to get to moving on. You were it for me, Stiles. Period. So stop being an idiot and wasting the time we have."   
  
  
It's early morning when Stiles stirs from Derek's side, long after they've given up talking and settled into just enjoying being together. The contented smile he'd finally gathered falls away.   
  
"It's almost time," Derek says, and Stiles nods.   
  
"I have something," he says quickly, in the way that tells Derek he'd totally forgotten this thing until now. He pulls away, scrambling up as always, and runs to the tree line, returning moments later with a bag that he hands off immediately. "I asked Scott to get it for me last year. I hoped… maybe you could give it to Claudia for me? Tell her…"   
  
Derek pulls the stuffed wolf toy from the bag and doesn't know whether to laugh or just sigh in exasperation, because Stiles will never change. But that thought sobers him. "It's from her guardian angel," he finishes for Stiles, looking up into eyes filling with tears.   
  
They fall into one last embrace until it gets hard to hold on.   
  
"I love you," they say. "I miss you. I'll be here next year, no matter what."   
  
Stiles leans in and kisses Derek softly, and his lips and the touch of his hand leave a chill long after he's faded away. And Derek stays there, in the place Stiles died, clutching a wolf toy, until the alarm on his phone lets him know there's a little girl he needs to go get ready for school.

**Author's Note:**

> Come talk to me on [tumblr](http://wolftraps.tumblr.com). My fics tend to go up there first.


End file.
